Not enough money to spend!

Hyuga Village.

Early the next morning, Hashirama had to head back to Konoha.

All the Hyuga clanspeople followed Shinichi, seeing him off all the way to the village gate.

Hashirama stopped, turned around, and smiled at everyone.

"There are still plenty of things waiting for me in Konoha, so I'll head back now."

Shinichi cupped his hands toward him.

"Have a safe journey, Lord Hokage."

Hashirama waved, then turned and headed toward the mountain path.

His figure disappeared around a bend in the path.

The Hyuga clanspeople were still standing before the gate, not yet dispersing.

Shinichi turned to his eldest uncle.

"Uncle, gather everyone in the clearing in the middle of the village."

"We're handing out money today!"

His eldest uncle was now in charge of the clan's money and provisions. The thirty million ryo left by the Main Family, plus the five hundred million ryo given by the daimyo, made up the Hyuga Clan's entire assets.

He acknowledged the order and called a few people over to head to the newly built warehouse.

Before long, four large wooden chests were carried to the clearing in the center of the village.

Hearing the news, the Hyuga clanspeople gathered one after another around the clearing.

His uncle stepped forward and lifted the lids of the wooden chests one by one.

The chests were filled with bundles of banknotes.

Shinichi stood before the chests and looked at the crowd.

"We're handing out money today, and everyone gets a share!"

His uncle pulled up a chair behind the chests and sat down.

Holding a roster, he began calling names one by one.

The Hyuga clanspeople formed a long line in the clearing.

Those whose names were called stepped forward in turn.

His uncle counted out the banknotes and handed them to each person.

Those who received their money tucked the banknotes into their clothes.

They moved aside, chatting and laughing with people they knew.

The line moved forward until it was Scarface's turn.

He strode up and took the banknotes his uncle handed him.

He held the money in his hand, hefting it up and down.

Scarface grinned and bellowed at those beside him.

"Now I can get a new pot for the house!"

"That old one's been fucking leaking for ages!"

Hearing him, the Hyuga clanspeople gathered nearby pointed at him and laughed.

"Scarface, that busted pot of yours really is overdue for replacing!"

Scarface tucked the money into his clothes and patted his chest twice.

"Oh, get lost. What the hell do you know?"

"With a new pot, the food won't burn on the bottom anymore."

After the money had been handed out, quite a few Hyuga clanspeople left the village in groups and headed for town.

The nearest town to Hyuga Village was just under half a day's walk away.

Scarface went along with the crowd, his mind fixed on his new pot.

The town was small, its streets quiet and deserted, with only a few shops selling rice, cloth, and sundries.

At the rice shop's counter, a Hyuga clansman held a small bag of rice, frowning.

"Shopkeeper, why does your rice cost several times as much as it does in the Land of Fire?"

The shopkeeper kept his hands tucked into his sleeves and shook his head repeatedly.

"The Land of Rice Fields has been full of bandits these past two years. What outside caravan would dare bring rice here?"

"This is all the grain left in town, and that's the price."

The Hyuga clansman could only grit his teeth and take out his banknotes.

The situation in the cloth shop next door was even more pitiful.

The shelves were bare except for a single kind of coarse cloth, available only in a drab gray.

Inside the general store, Scarface was crouching in a corner.

There were only four or five iron pots on the floor, and even those were covered in dust.

He tapped one, felt another, and after picking through them, chose a slightly sturdier one.

When he reached the counter and the shopkeeper quoted the price, the flesh on Scarface's face twitched twice.

He reached into his clothes, counted out the banknotes he had barely warmed, and handed them over, grimacing at the expense.

Scarface tucked the pot under his arm, turned, and strode out of the shop.

Before dark, the Hyuga clanspeople who had gone to town returned to the village one after another.

Some carried rice on their shoulders, while others held cloth in their arms.

None had bought very much.

A few clanspeople gathered at the foot of the newly built wooden wall to talk.

"After buying this bag of rice, I don't have enough money left for cloth."

The person beside him chimed in.

"I wanted to get enough cloth to make the children at home some new clothes."

"The shop only had one kind of gray cloth. There wasn't even a choice."

A Hyuga ninja walked over, his brows drawn tightly together.

"I wanted to replenish my supplies with a few kunai and explosive tags."

"After those fights along the way, I'd long since run out of ninja tools."

"But I went around the whole town, and not a single shop sold them."

Scarface happened to pass by with his newly bought iron pot tucked under his arm.

Hearing this, he curled his lip and chimed in.

"Don't even mention it."

"This lousy pot alone cost me nearly half my money."

That evening, his uncle entered Shinichi's room with a ledger.

His expression was grim.

His uncle stepped forward and spread the ledger open on the table.

"Shinichi, take a look at these accounts."

Shinichi raised his head to look at him.

"Uncle, are we running short of money?"

His uncle extended a finger and pointed out the entries to Shinichi one by one.

"Our clan has over three thousand mouths to feed. Their daily food alone is a bottomless pit."

"It's getting cold soon, and we still need to stockpile more grain in the warehouse for winter."

"You heard about everyone's shopping trip to town today, too."

"The pots, bowls, and bedding every household needs are all expensive, and we're buying so much."

"Then there's the money we handed out to each household today..."

His uncle paused at that point.

He pointed at the figure at the very bottom of the ledger, his brows knotted tightly.

"After adding it all up, we've already spent well over half of the five hundred million ryo the daimyo gave us."

Shinichi looked at the ledger on the table and tapped its edge twice with his fingers.

"Uncle, we need to find a long-term solution for money."

His uncle sat down beside the table and closed the ledger.

"Back in the Land of Fire, we made our living by taking missions."

"How about I arrange for the clan's ninja to go out and take missions tomorrow?"

Shinichi shook his head.

"That won't work."

"The Land of Rice Fields is too small. It can't compare to the Land of Fire."

"There simply aren't many missions for us to take."

"Those few missions wouldn't even support the ninja, let alone the whole clan of over three thousand people."

His uncle sighed and slapped his knee hard.

"Then what do you suggest?"

"We can't just watch our money run out and everyone go hungry."

Shinichi stood, walked to the doorway, and looked out into the night.

"We need to bring in merchants from other countries."

"As long as outside caravans dare come to the Land of Rice Fields."

"Once the merchants come, there'll be more goods for sale."

"With more grain and cloth in town, prices will naturally fall."

His uncle stood up as well, shaking his head repeatedly.

"What you're saying makes sense, but..."

"You heard what that merchant from the Land of Fire we met on the road said."

"The roads in the Land of Rice Fields are crawling with bandits, not to mention those wandering ninja."

"If outside merchants can't even keep themselves alive, who would dare come here?"

Shinichi did not answer immediately.

Looking at the newly built houses in the darkness, he came to understand something.

For a village, especially a shinobi village, simply putting up houses was not enough.

Nor could the village remain home to only the Hyuga Clan forever.

Merchants needed to come and open shops, and ordinary people needed to settle here.

In the future, other ninja clans would also need to move here.

And the most pressing task now was to wipe out all these bandits so merchants from other countries would dare come in.

Shinichi withdrew his gaze and looked at his uncle.

"Tomorrow, I'll go to the capital to see the daimyo."